Lull after the storm Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Nov. 22: A day after Kolkata witnessed one of the worst incidents of violence in the past decade, the city limped back to normal today. A night-long curfew, clamped from 10 p.m. yesterday to 6 a.m. today in some pockets, was lifted this morning. The Army, police and RAF jointly patrolled the trouble-torn areas. Security was beefed up in several sensitive points, including near the Rawdon Street residence of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen and around the CPI-M party office at Alimuddin Street. Police pickets were set up at several road crossings to preempt violence.
“The transition to normalcy was fast and the city is absolutely peaceful now. Some schools and colleges have opened. People are carrying on with their lives as usual. Even though there is no need for a curfew anymore, the Army and police will continue flag marches,” commissioner of police Mr Goutam Mohan Chakraborty said after a meeting with chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the state chief secretary at the Writers’ Buildings this afternoon.
The lanes and by-lanes off Park Street, Sundari Mohan Avenue and AJC Bose Road, however, still bore the scars of yesterday's violence. Even though the roads have been partially cleared of burnt hulks of vehicles torched the day before, their pitted surface and that of footpaths and the walls of buildings lining them tell yesterday's tale vividly. Several rallies were brought out today. Some passed through the violence-hit areas with the participants urging the citizens to show restraint. Some others weaved their way through other parts of the city to protest against the stand of Opposition parties and some media houses on Nandigram. While supporters of the Student's Federation of India took out a rally from Subodh Mullick Square which culminated near the USIS, Congress activists participated in a procession which culminated near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Mayo Road. Some writers and singers organised a peace rally in Park Circus to condemn yesterday's violence and urged the perpetrators to see reason.
Even though police claimed that no reports of fresh violence had been received, citizens steered clear of the areas where violence had erupted yesterday. The volume of vehicular and pedestrian traffic on some roads in the vicinity of ground zero, so to say, were considerably less in comparison to other week days and the Park Circus railway station was nearly deserted.
Mr Chakraborty said: “In all, 69 persons, including a minor, were arrested on charges of rioting and damaging public property. The minor, 13-year-old Md Gulzar, is a resident of Park Street area. At least 14 persons were arrested and specific cases, including attempt to murder, have been registered against them."
Later, Mr Chakraborty held a meeting with religious leaders including the Imam of Tipu Sultan Mosque, the Imam of the the Idga on Red Road, the Imam of Nakhoda Mosque and the Imam of Armenian Mosque. |